The Inhuman
by miauzhang
Summary: No host has ever overpowered a Yeerk. It is impossible. That was until a certain girl become a controller against her will.
1. 01 The Caring

Puella Magi Madoka Magica x Animorphs crossover.

timeline: After Madoka Magica tv series. No Rebellion.

Animorphs timeline: Elfangor had crashed on earth and gave morphing cube. The rest of detail is undecided

 **=start=**

 **01\. The Caring**

Long black hair gently swayed in the spring wind, shining lustrously on morning sunlight. The hair owner was a girl in uniform, walking on a paved road leading to a school.

Akemi Homura leisurely walked to Mitakihara Middle School, as her routine these days. She was in the third grade now, and she still didn't have many friends.

She had a cordial relationship with one Sayaka Miki, apparently, before the girl "mysteriously disappeared", leaving no hints or body to be found. At least that's what the other puella magi said about her and Sayaka.

She didn't remember. She didn't experience it. When the world was remade, she arrived in the new world with her old memories. She didn't even see clearly how Sayaka died fighting demons.

Tomoe Mami was another girl that she could call friend. But the older girl was a little distant. Not to mention that she had graduated middle school and currently went to another high school.

Sakura Kyoko was another one she could call friend. But she didn't go to school. She didn't want nor need it.

Besides the two girls in her group, she knew some other magical girls in the area. Mitakihara was quite vast, and the city had a number of sub areas, home to different groups of magical girls. They maintained friendly relationship as a rule, dividing demon hunting territory between themselves.

Of course there was always exception, like that group in the south, but it was not a significant problem.

But the main point was Homura always walked alone to school. And even in school, she didn't have any friends. She rarely talked to anyone. Other than necessary things or school stuff, she didn't talk to her fellow students.

Of course, being a beautiful and smart girl, with a cool aura about her, many had tried to talk to her. They invited her to have lunch together or to go karaoke after school. Homura rejected them all.

She was fine being alone.

And she must hunt demons with Kyoko and Mami after school. There was no time to have fun.

It might be different if Madoka was here with her. However, her best friend had transcended her mortal existence and existed nowhere and everywhere.

Homura kept her face neutral even when her thoughts turned gloomy. She always became like this every time she thought about Madoka. Ignoring other students who gawked and admired her, she entered the school building.

As usual, she spent time learning in class, maintaining her image as honor student. And when lunch break came, she got ready to eat alone at her desk.

Unusually, two female classmates suddenly asked to sit with her and have lunch together.

Homura didn't have any reason to refuse. She politely accepted and the three of them had lunch together. If the two girls wanted to play friendship, then she could indulge them for a while.

Their names were Honda Akiko and Yotsuba Hinata. Homura remembered them as quiet, average girls that never cause trouble. They had average looks and average grade, and not good with sports. They were also not joining any clubs.

Now, what would be the reason that they tried to talk to her?

Usually, those who talked to Homura had certain interests. Pretty and confident girls wanted her to join their clique. Sporty girls wanted Homura to join her club and aim for regionals. Righteous students couldn't let her stay as a loner.

And hormonal boys trying to woo her by acting silly.

These two didn't fit any of the usual profile. They normally didn't have enough courage to initiate conversation with her.

The three engaged in small talk. And then.

"Right, I was having fun last weekend in The Caring. We gathered in the park to watch flowers. They are so beautiful. You should join us sometime Homura." Akiko suddenly said, changing the topic of conversation.

"Oh yes! It was such a fun gathering. The seniors take care of us new members and very helpful." Hinata also followed up.

Homura hid her thoughts and not reacting. Since when these girls were so cheerful and friendly? She followed the obvious bait and ask, "What is The Caring?"

The two girls then filled her in about a new social gathering, or maybe a community club, named The Caring. It was called a social club where everyone can join, no matter your age, occupation, or gender. They mainly do outdoor activities or social meet up.

Akiko and Hinata were very eager to promote The Caring to her, even when they tried to be nonchalant about it. And then Akiko said the line, "It would be wonderful if you can join as well, Homura."

Homura frowned a little. This was more than suspicious. A social club where everyone happy was too good to be true. It was more likely that these girls were lying, or forced to gather new members.

There were three possibilities. Forced prostitution ring. Or camouflaged ponzi schemes. Or the worst one, crazy religious cult.

"Is there any membership fee if I joined?" Homura asked. The pyramid scam usually gather money from membership fee when someone joined.

"Oh no, it is free. You don't need to worry about that. I know you are living in budget." Akiko said

"Akiko!" Hinata glared at the other girl, and then said "I am sorry for her, she is so insensitive. Well, like I said before, The Caring has regular outing every Saturday..." and then she continued to ramble about The Caring activities.

But Homura thought, 'They knew that I live alone and had limited living expenses. They already researched the background of their recruitment target.'

This showed that this organization was very willing to recruit her. Why though?

Soon the bell rang and they had to break up and resume classes. Homura gave noncommittal reply when Akiko invited her to The Caring meet-up.

break=

After school arrived and Homura didn't immediately left school as her habit. She grabbed the class representative to the women's toilet and set up a private meeting in one of the stall.

"Honestly, this is your idea of talking? If I don't know your characters, I would think that this is a bullying. Or extortion." Fujiko Saki said while rubbing her upper arms. She was wearing glasses and her hair was braided in two.

As class representative, she was one of the student who regularly talked with Homura for school matters. Beside, she couldn't leave Homura the loner most of the time, so she usually volunteered to be paired or grouped in class with her. As a result, Homura and her was somewhat familiar enough.

"Honda Akiko and Yotsuba Hinata. Do you notice anything strange about them?" Homura said without beating the bush.

"Honda-san? Yotsuba-san? Not really. They are quiet girls, not joining the gals group, not flirting with the boys like Maki's group. They always submit their printout on time. I don't think there are any rumors about them. If you ask about Tsuruhana-san from next class, I heard that she got another boyfriend, a foreigner."

Homura put her hand on her chin, thinking. So there was no rumors or change in behavior. She changed the question. "They joined something called The Caring recently. Do you know something about it?"

This time Saki's face changed, confusion and hate in her expression. "Yeah, I know them." She spat the words. "Good guys gathering together doing nothing."

"Something you don't tell me." Homura said the obvious, prompting the girl to continue.

"It's just... I dont trust them, no matter what anyone say." Saki tried to find words. "From the outside, nothing bad happened. They're doing normal things. But my cousin..."

Saki sucked a breath. "Takeshi-nii joined them about two months ago. Since then, his career advanced. He became all around more decent. But... he doesn't play anymore."

"Play?" Homura asked.

"Takeshi-nii was a fighting game maniac. He used to spent his money in game center playing games. He was collecting figurine of his favorite character in game. I used to play with him when he visited my home, using my old playstation."

"Hmm. And?"

"He quitted! After joining that club or whatever, he stopped going to arcade. Of course since he stop wasting money, uncle and auntie is happy. But still! A person can't change that big in short time, even when he claimed that this club heal him or that nonsense!"

Homura nodded, motioning Saki to continue.

"He didn't want to play with me anymore, even on playstation. Saying, 'it is a waste of time' and 'you should join The Caring, it is more fun'. That's weird. And creepy."

The more she heard it, the more Homura thought that it fits the traits of a cult.

"Thank you. That's enough. You can leave now." Homura said to Saki, leaving the girl inside the toilet stall.

 **=break=**

 **Target 0077** **Profile** Name: Akemi Homura

Job: middle school student

Age: 15

Appearance: top class, beautiful with long hair. Intelligence: superior, periodically topping the exam charts.

Health: periodic health check reveal no abnormalities or disease. Very healthy. Very athletic and good in sports. Eyesight normal.

Personality: taciturn, loner, disinterested in other students

Family: unknown. Presumed non existent.

Finance potential : living alone with monthly stipend sent from somewhere unknown. Living frugally. Expected to gain more wealth with her capabilities when matured.

Friends: none observed.

Social circle: not existed

Activities: unknown. Presumed non existent

Comment:

#1 the target isolation and non existent social life is convenient. She can spend more time with us without suspicion

#2 target is considered attractive by human standard. More hosts can be lured over using target. It will also make infiltration easier

#3 Approval for target body acquisitions gained.

chapterend=

 **This is a crossover story. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is Japanese tv anime airing in 2012. Akemi Homura is one of the main characters and she will be the main character in this fic. If you come from Animorphs side, I suggest you watch it first before reading this.**

 **Animorphs is a series of YA novels about alien invasion, published originally in USA. If you come from PMMM side, you will get necessary infodump later.**

 **This is written on sudden inspiration on my phone in my free time, as scarce as it is. Maybe I will write chapter 2 tomorrow. No promise.**

 **and don't ask about my other stories. They will come out if they come out.**


	2. 02 The Seer

**02\. The Seer**

"Find a family you can belong blah blah blah. Doing positive work for local community. Connect with others near you yadda yadda. Geez, this club really sounds sappy"

Sakura Kyoko read from a pamphlet while jumping between rooftops. Accompanying her were two other magical girls, Akemi Homura and Tomoe Mami.

"It is not a bad thing to do community service, Sakura-san." Mami said. "In fact, I would love to do it sometimes, if not for our obligation to hunt demons. And we can even say that demon hunting is community service, in a way."

"Yeah yeah, we do thankless work to protect humanity." Kyoko said while waving the pamphlet. "But I think this group is indeed suspicious. There is no way people can be that selfless. There must be a catch."

Mami frowned a bit. "Well, there are several girls from my school who joined. I don't think there is anything strange about them..." She landed on top of street lamp and jumped again for another rooftop.

They were taking their usual path for patrol, circling the center of their territory. In a while, they will approach another magical girls group territory.

"I just think it's weird." Homura said. "But even if there is something going on, it's not our business. We have our job hunting demons. This case should be handled by the police."

"Nah, the police can't catch all the bad guys." Kyoko said. "Typically the cops will move when the victims count get too large. If this club is really crime in hiding anyway. But I agree, it's not our business."

Mami was concentrating on her magic to search for demons gathering, but she hadn't found any. "I think it's a good idea just to check, if we have time. Even if it's not our job as magical girls, I think ignoring a crime happening is not something we should do."

Kyoko grunted. "Yeah, I guess we could. But do we really have to?"

"Sakura-san, with great power comes great responsibility, that's true no matter how cliche it is." Mami said. "There is no point guarding humanity from demons if they got ruined by criminals instead. I don't say we should replace the police, but we can help report anything suspicious."

Homura landed on top of a building, and then jumping higher to aim for a high apartment building in front of her. They were now at the southernmost edge of their territory. "I agree with Mami. I can always do a quick investigation."

Even if Homura had no family, there were still some people that she vowed to protect. The family of Kaname Madoka still lived in Mitakihara City. To protect them, she should make the city safer.

"You need backup?" Kyoko said while doing midair acrobatics.

"No, a group of normal humans are..." Homura paused in the middle of her speech.

 _'Turn right.'_

Because a familiar voice of her best friend resonated inside her head. And the red ribbon she wore yanked softly to the right.

Homura turned right without any doubt. If Madoka wanted her to go there, then she would comply without hesitation.

However, her other friends weren't that understanding.

"Hey Homura! Homura!" Kyoko ran after her, Mami following close behind her.

Homura had no time to explain. And she couldn't really explain that the red ribbon she wore was the only physical object left of a girl that sacrificed herself to become a Goddess, and it sometimes relayed message from the said Goddess.

"Follow me. Trust in Her."

Homura ignored them after saying it.

Mami privately chatted Kyoko in telepathy. ' _Do you think she is referring to her Goddess that she sometimes mentioned?'_

Kyoko replied. _'Who else? I remembered some months ago she bought a whole birthday cake, with candles, and coincidentally met me. I asked whose birthday it was, and she didn't want to say. Until I teased her that she shouldn't celebrate her own birthday alone, that we could party together or something, that she finally said that it was for Goddess' birthday."_

 _'She did that? Buy a cake, I mean?'_ Mami asked.

' _Uh huh. And medium size.'_ Kyoko replied.

Their telepathical conversation was cut off when a telltale sign of another magical girl appeared in their detection.

"It was the kid." Kyoko said.

Homura stopped about ten meters from Chitose Yuma, who was sitting on a water drum on top of a rooftop.

Homura knew about Chitose Yuma. She had met her several times on another timeline, another world that never happened. She had abusive parents, or sometimes she was in orphanage. Her wish sometimes involved healing Kyoko who was injured.

But in this timeline, she somehow joined the Southern Group, led by Mikuni Oriko. Homura admitted that she was a bit curious about the situation, but she didn't really want to pry.

"Is it only you? Where is the others?" Mami said with a bit hostility.

"Only me. I am not here to fight." Yuma said, standing up. "I am here because Onee-chan - Oriko, have a message for Akemi Homura."

Yuma reached into her pocket and took out an envelope. "She said I should deliver this to you. And she said that you will come here."

Homura eyed Yuma inquisitively. It was true that Madoka led her here. Was this what She wanted?

Mami materialized her ribbon. "I will take that from you." She moved her long ribbon to wrap the envelope in Yuma's hand, and pull it closer. After checking for traps, she finally grabbed it with her hands and open it.

Yuma commented after seeing how paranoid Mami's behavior was. "You don't need to do that. I touched it a lot before this."

"You don't know Oriko as long as I do." Mami spat. "Maybe the magic can recognize specific person touch."

Kyoko had moved behind Mami, reading the letter from over the shoulder. "Whoa. She dares!"

"What does it say?" Yuma asked.

"You didn't know?" Homura also wanted to read it, but she was in no hurry.

"I didn't open the envelope. I am just curious. Oriko nee-chan said that it is important." Yuma said.

"Important? Why is that?" Homura asked the 9 year old girl.

"You know that Onee-chan can see the future, right?" Yuma asked. When Homura nodded, Yuma continued. "She said that our fate will depend on your decision after reading the letter. That there is a lot at stake here."

Homura of course knew about the girl's precognitive power. At the old timeline, she sometimes fought Oriko because the girl had predicted that Madoka would become the greatest Witch ever. Oriko had tried to prevent this by killing Madoka.

Should she trust Oriko or not? There was a possibility that she manipulated Homura.

She should hear what Oriko said first.

"Kyoko, read the letter. Let Yuma-san hear it too." Homura said.

"You sure?" Kyoko stared at the little magical girl on the rooftop across. "Well, it said:

 _You should join The Caring._ _Sun Tzu said, know your enemy._ _The best way to know something is from inside._ _Do it sooner, very soon. You can't bear the price of hesitation._ _P.S.: If you don't do it, I will send Yuma to join them. Her trauma will be on you._ _Signed, Mikuni Oriko._ _Your fellow magical girls."_

As soon as she read it aloud, Kyoko had an impulse to rip the letter apart. She stopped at grabbing the letter from Mami. "She dares! She threatened to send a kid to a criminal organization and blame the trauma on us! The nerve!"

"Calm down Sakura-san. There is no proof that The Caring is a criminal organization. Though the fact that Oriko really want Akemi-san to join it is very disturbing."

"What else could it be? She explicitly said that the kid will have traumatic experience." Kyoko half-shouted.

Homura took the letter from Kyoko's hand, ignoring Mami's warning about magical trap. She read it again and again, looking for clues.

The fact that Madoka led her to meet Yuma can't be coincidence. That meant Madoka wanted her to read Oriko's letter.

The Caring was an enemy. And if Homura didn't investigate it from inside soon, something will be lost. That much is clear.

But why would Oriko threatened to send Yuma if Homura didn't enter The Caring?

"Tell me Yuma. How did Oriko treat you?" Homura asked the child in front of her.

Yuma, confused and afraid after hearing the letter and conversation between the older girls, said in small voice. "She is nice. She takes care of me."

"Then why would she send you, into what seems to be dangerous place?"

This time Yuma took a long time before she answered. "I don't believe Onee-chan will do it if I can't handle it. And maybe she will come along? Or hide nearby?"

Mami made a scathing remarks about how you couldn't trust Oriko to be that caring, and Yuma vehemently defended Oriko by citing examples of Oriko favoring her and special treatment she got, but Homura kept her silence.

Homura analyzed every angle. Yuma didn't have a risk in joining. That meant Homura, an older and more experienced magical girl, would be fine.

Oriko would send her own. That meant this was not only Homura's problem. The Caring was a common enemy.

The price of failure. Did The Caring pose a risk to Kaname family as well?

"Indeed, a magical girl power can not be underestimated." A familiar voice suddenly said.

All heads turned to see a white, cat-like creature with red pattern on its back, perched on top of electrical pole.

"Kyubey." Homura said.

"We didn't realize Mikuni Oriko can see with her power. She has learned the truth." The creature, Incubator, said cryptically.

"What truth?" Kyoko asked.

"The truth that Akemi Homura will learn if she joined The Caring." the creature said.

Incubator, usually just called Kyubey, was an alien race that granted magical girls their power. By fulfilling a girl's wish and make a contract, the girl gained magic. And Kyubey gained energy to fight back entropy.

"And what will Homura learn, Kyubey?" Kyoko impatiently asked.

"She will learn about it eventually. There is something that you need to experience to know. Anyway, I definitely agree that you should investigate." Kyubey said while acting cute.

"Is there any risk?" Homura said while staring at Incubator.

"Of course there is." Kyubey said, still acting cute on top of an electrical pole.

"And why would you taking interest in this. You generally ignore humans affair, unless it is related to magical girls." Homura asked.

"It's true that we don't really want to get involved, especially in the fight between two troublesome parties. But we are here first, so they really should take their arguments somewhere else. And the current situation is detrimental to our energy harvest quota. The Caring run something that oppose our interest." Kyubey said.

"Can you use simpler words?" Yuma said.

"In short, it is in our interest that humans flourish, and girls are free to make contract. We had no sample of what happen if a girl make a contract under certain restrictions, or if contracted girl got influenced. Though a sample would appear sooner or later, we prefer the status quo rather than uncertain future." Kyubey said.

"I still don't understand." Kyoko said. "Is it about drugs? Meths?"

"That is all I can say about this matter. I have no authorization to divulge any more."

And with that final statement, the white creature jumped and disappeared.

"I guess... if Kyubey take interest, then this is not a small problem." Mami said. She frowned, recalling her schoolmates who had joined The Caring. Mami didn't spot any difference in their physique, as typical to narcotic user.

"I... I need to go back." Yuma said. "Onee-chan will want to hear about Kyubey." She bowed to them and left.

"Well, I really think you need backup." Kyoko said to Homura. "Tell me when you want to crash the club, I will be behind you." She grinned.

Homura looked at the empty pole where Kyubey disappeared. Was this what Madoka hinted? Maybe she should stock up some explosives, maybe she would need it.


	3. 03 The Darkness

**03\. The Darkness**

 **Homura First Person POV**

My name was Homura. Akemi Homura.

I lived in a developing city called Mitakihara, a thriving and growing city. A city full of happy, innocent people.

The city was divided into residential area, business district (or the skyscrapers zone), industrial and warehouse area, university town, culture and art center, harbor area, and the center of the city where important government offices were located.

Mitakihara General Hospital was also located at the center area, making it easy to access from every direction.

It turned out that The Caring had volunteering activity at the hospital, and I was invited to join them there.

But let's step back a little. After yesterday patrol, I was determined to infiltrate this organization and uncover the mystery behind it. So I was prepared to talk to my two classmates about it.

But that turned out to be easy, since Akiko and Hinata approached me first and asked to have lunch together. This time they were more proactive in inviting me to join their shady social club.

I had faked reluctance to prevent suspicion. If I suddenly wanted to join them it would seem weird. I waited for opportunity to accept their invitation when they suddenly talked about scholarship.

It was a very tempting offer. The Caring gave scholarship to student with excellent grades. The scholarship included living expenses stipend and an option for enrolling in Mitakihara University.

A very sweet bait for someone like me.

Even without my mission, I most likely would apply for it. I fulfilled the criteria - student with no money, but high grades in school. And I need it. Also, my situation prevented me from having part time jobs.

Only one criteria that I hadn't fulfilled - yet. To be a member of The Caring.

They really went all out huh? I wonder what was really their game. Providing a scholarship would need a substantial amount of money.

Anyway, I pretended to be interested - not a difficult thing to do - and expressed my intention to join The Caring.

The two girls were smiling as they heard my intention to join. They had the air of 'mission successful' about them.

I also maintained an eager expression. People would assume that I was in it for the scholarship.

Of course our conversation was not secret. Other students in class could hear us, and a low buzz had risen when I said that I will join. Soon, it would spread to the rumor mills, and the whole school would know.

My superhuman hearing had already caught the whispers of several boys.

 _'Man, if Akemi-san join that club, maybe I will join too.'_

 _'What? You think you will have more chance with her if you are in the same club? Dream on.'_

 _'Hey, at least I can see her and talk to her more often. She doesn't join any club at school. Where else can I approach her?'_

 _'Dumbass. We are already in the same class yet you haven't got the courage to talk to Akemi-san. I bet you will chickened out there too.'_

I caught several glances from the boys other than that. Really, these teenage boys... I bet The Caring would get a flood of boys joining in next few days.

I frowned. Or maybe that was their goal?

I dismissed the thought. No matter. Everything would be revealed when I join.

And so I acted according to the plan. After school was over, I followed my two classmates to the hospital. Another girl from next class joined us, and obviously she was also a member of The Caring. I wasn't interested enough to know her name though.

Mitakihara Middle school was located between the residential area and the central area. Walk some distance from the school and The Mall was in sight. The mall in which Madoka usually met Kyubey for the first time, for most later timelines. Walk past the mall and to the east some distance, and one would arrive at Mitakihara General Hospital.

I didn't have many good memories about the place. Granted, the staffs were nice and the place was neat. There was open garden on the roof. They had state of the art equipment. But still, this place had too many dark memories.

I was treated here for my illness for a long time. This place was where Sayaka made her contract, for the sake of her crush. This place had several Witch labyrinths during the timeloops. One such labyrinth was usually discovered by Sayaka and Madoka, and several times claimed Mami as casualties.

Even now in a world without Witches, the negative aura from the patients usually formed demons in the vicinity of hospital.

I dismissed my dark thoughts and focus at the matter at hand.

"I will introduce you to the mentor first. They are, uh, the one usually in charge for new members." Honda Akiko said.

"Right right. Making you jump head first to volunteer work is no no! Today we will just show you how things work here." Yotsuba Hinata said. The other girl, whose name I didn't know, went to a group of young girls at the hospital courtyard.

"Uh huh." I said, pretending to care. Meanwhile, my eyes scanned the surrounding.

On the surface, there was nothing unusual. But I had more experience than your average middle school girl. I didn't miss the cold glances directed at me from seemingly innocent passerby and bystanders.

Yes, I already expected that they would have lookouts and sentries undercover. What I didn't expect was the sheer number and diversity of these lookouts. There were the elderly. There were women. There were children. Policemen. Nurses. Doctors. Patients. And that didn't count the obvious club members, wearing some kind of matching T-shirt.

Oh Goddess. What did I walk into?

 _'Holy hells! I count twenty suspicious person down there. And I sure don't see everyone. Are you sure you want to this?'_ A telepathic voice heard inside my head.

 _'Kyoko'_ I replied. _'Where are you'_

' _Behind you. On top of Kamijo Kyosuke's recital billboard advertisement. I got a handy binocular here.'_

I repressed the impulse to ask where Kyoko obtain a binocular. There was no good end to that question. Instead, I ask her opinion. _'The members are too diverse. What do you think?'_

There was a slight pause before she replied. _'There is no doubt. This fits the pattern of a cult. An organized crime will have more homogeneity. Anyway, Mami texted that she will be delayed. She will be here in half an hour.'_

 _'Then I will see what they are up to._ ' I scanned the milling crowd wearing matching T-shirt in front of the hospital. Obviously these people were here for the volunteering activity. The diversity of people reminded me again that this organization was unusual. Besides students coming from school who wore school uniform, everyone else generally wore matching outfit.

I remembered that Kyoko had personal experience involving religion or religious congregation. If she said that this was a religious cult, then it was most likely accurate.

Anyway, what kind of volunteer activity can you do in hospital? Nothing came to mind.

Akiko went to find a mentor while Hinata stayed with me. It was at that time someone came to us from the crowd and called to us.

"Akemi-san, Honda-san." a rather petite young woman with short hair and glasses greeted us. "What a surprise seeing you here. You are here for volunteering too?"

This young woman was the 'Longest relationship is three months' Saotome-sensei, our class teacher. What was she doing here?

Hinata answered her. "Yes sensei. Me and Akiko will help, and Akemi-san here is just auditing."

"Oh, so you two are already a member huh. And Akemi-san here is thinking to join The Caring." The short young woman nodded to herself.

"What about you sensei?" I asked her while relaying the situation to Kyoko. "You are not a member?"

"Oh no, I am here just to accompany Fuji-kun" Sensei said while blushing, but she quickly entered the gushing mode. Gushing mode, the state that she always entered in the beginning of new relationship, where she described all good qualities of her new boyfriend.

Apparently the new boyfriend, Fuji-kun, was a member of The Caring. And this was a plus point in Saotome-sensei's eyes. Of course, She also listed more virtues of Fuji-kun to our ears, and they seemed to be endless, but Hinata and I just smiled wryly. The students of her class had already used to such antics.

Our conversation (or Saotome-sensei's monologue) was interrupted once more when a new person came, accompanied by Akiko.

The mentor that Akiko brought was a smiling, matronly woman that looked like a young housewife. She introduced herself as Matsuda Keiko. She had position as mentor for new members.

The group then scattered. Saotome-sensei went back to hang out with her boyfriend. Akiko and Hinata joined the small groups that formed to do volunteer activity. Which left me and Matsuda alone.

"We are not joining them?" I asked the woman, feeling a little suspicious. Wasn't the plan said that I will observe their activity?

"We can do that later my dear." Matsuda said, her false smile never wavered. "But we should meet The Director first. He has heard about you and he is asking to meet you now."

"Director?" I asked.

"The director of this hospital, Otonashi-sama. He is also member of The Caring, and one of the leaders. He heard that you want to apply for our scholarship. Just consider this as an interview for that." Matsuda replied, still smiling eerily.

You know, my perception about Matsuda was colored by the assumption that this social club was suspicious. I always thought her smile was fake and creepy. But any other person would describe it as warm and gentle.

"Hm. Alright then." I motioned her to lead the way.

When I followed Matsuda to the hospital entrance, Kyoko spoke to me telepathically. _'Anything wrong? Why are you separating from the big group?'_

I described the situation to Kyoko.

 _'Mami was still not here. I will move closer. The hospital lobby is good location, I can blend with the visitors. Scream when you need to be rescued. I bet they will inject you with loyalty drugs the moment you got inside.'_

 _'There's no such things as loyalty drugs. And they can try. Our magic will flush out any harmful drugs.'_ I replied.

 _'If you say so Miss Smarty. Too bad it is a hospital. If there is no concern for collateral damage I can go there spear-blazing.'_

' _Yes, too bad.'_ I replied. _'I left my bombs at home.'_

' _What?'_

 _'I built a time-bomb last night. The plan was to bring it with me to their headquarters. If I was captured and incapacitated, the bomb will automatically goes boom at a set time_. _I was going to go home first to retrieve it and met them later, but when they said we would go to hospital, I cancelled it.'_

 _'That's crazy! You will also die! Wait, how did you know how to make a bomb?'_

I was now already inside the hospital, following Matsuda crossing the lobby and heading to the elevator. "We will meet at the director's room at 20th floor"floor", she said.

Huh. Straight to the boss. Pity I don't have mind reading powers, it would be nice to rip out all information from him. I nodded and entered the elevator. Matsuda pushed the button and so the elevator closed and moved upstairs.

Meanwhile, I maintained telepathic conversation with Kyoko. This served to let us know that we remain in telepathic distance. ' _If I protect my Soul Gem from damage, I can recover._ ' Maybe burying it to the ground. This kind of thing sometimes made me wish I still had the timestop power.

 _'You still haven't answer where do you learn how to make bombs'_ Kyoko said.

 _'From the internet. The materials are not hard to get.'_ But homemade explosives had small impact compared to the bombs used by military. If I still had my shield, which can store things like a catrobot pocket dimension, it would be worth it to raid a military base and took some weapons. As I am now, I couldn't carry dangerous firearms on my person. Too much risk of someone detecting it.

The elevator arrived at the 20th floor and we exit the lift. I followed Matsuda until we arrived in front of a door, which was obviously the Director's office. The plate in front of the room said, 'Otonashi Yuzuru, Director.' To have such an important person became a member of this social club, what kind of organization was The Caring? Conspiracy theory like the Illuminati rose to mind. As silly as it was, maybe there was a truth about that.

 _'We are going in_ ' I informed Kyoko. Matsuda had knocked the door and got permission to enter.

The room was not too big, but also not small. There was a working desk, filled with documents on top of it, and also a computer. Behind the desk was a chair where a man sit, in the middle of working. There was also a sofa and a small table, for receiving guest. A drink bar, a potted plant, a window overviewing Mitakihara, a calendar, a painting on the wall... everything seemed normal.

"Welcome. Akemi Homura, yes? Please sit here." A handsome middle aged man greeted me and gestured to the chair in front of the desk.

I sat in front of him as told. He cleared out the documents on the desk while speaking to me. "Sorry about this, I have to fit in your interview between my work. As you can see, I am a busy man. We should do the interview for your scholarship now when I have time."

This person had an aura of kindness, and it was clear that he really cared about the hospital from the things I glanced on the documents. Why would this person enter this shady organization? Anyway, why were we jumping to scholarship interview? I hadn't even mention it to you guys. I felt that these people were really over eager in recruiting. However, since this served my purpose anyway, I just followed along.

The interview progressed normally, as what you would expect in standard interview to student. They asked my future career, hobbies, passion, etc. I fed them my usual cover stories. My hobbies? Painting. My future job? Accountant or Civil Servant.

And then the non-standard question appeared, inserted carefully as small talk or as casual question. He asked about my family, my friends, and my love interest. All of which had simple, untruthful answer: I had none.

The slight smile he had hearing my answer freaked me out inside.

 _'Kyoko!_ ' I reflexively called out to my friend.

 _'Yes! You need to bail?'_

 _'No. Not yet. There is something wrong with the person interviewing me, but I still have no clue what. Let me finish this interview first.'_

 _'Okay. Be careful. Mami said that she is on the way._ ' Kyoko said.

I relaxed a bit hearing that my two friends were here for me. Even when nobody knew about it, I still had friends. Friends who would cover my back and stood with me in life or death battle.

I focused back to the man in front of me. Why would a kind person like Mr Otonashi, smiled happily when hearing that I had no friends or family? The smile appeared and quickly disappeared, so he didn't want to be noticed.

"Ah, you must be thirsty talking so much." Mr Otonashi said, then he stood up and took something from the drink bar. "Here, I have ice tea. But not too cold. Drink it first." He put a glass of tea in front of me.

I politely said thanks and drank it.

After that, we continued the interview. But this time, the questions asked seemed... unrelated. Or maybe, unimportant. It was as if Mr Otonashi ran out of questions but he still wanted to prolong the interview session. Meanwhile, my Soul Gem on my hand, in the form of a ring, reacted. It burned out a tiny quantity of magical energy to heal my body.

 _'Kyoko, they poisoned me._ ' I sent.

 _'What? Are you okay?'_

' _Uh huh. I think it is sleeping drugs. They want to make me unconscious. But my magic neutralize it.'_

 _'Now that is a sure sign that they are bad guys. We should capture them and hand them to the police.'_

 _'No, the evidence is too weak. We need something more solid. I know, I will pretend to be trapped. Faking it. I want to know what they will do to me.'_

I started to fake being sleepy. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Mr Otonashi's expression. He was very pleased.

Kyoko was not happy though. _'Homura! That's too dangerous! What if they do something to you?'_

I pretended to yawn and answered incoherently to Mr Otonashi's question. _'Relax, I am fully conscious. I will beat them up after I know for sure about their operations.'_

And then I pretended to fall asleep.

Mr Otonashi didn't waste time as he took out a radio from his pocket and contacted someone. "This is Temrash two-two-five. Target zero-zero-seven-seven is down. Send delivery men here."

He identify himself in code. Anyway, this looked more and more like human trafficking?

Not a moment too long, I heard the office door being opened and several footsteps entering the room. Several hands lifted me from the chair I slept in, and put me in.. something. After that I heard something closed and the surrounding sound became muffled.

I opened my eyes. It was dark. There was light coming in from the gaps, so I could more or less guess my situation. ' _Alright, they put me in a box, made from plastic or wood, maybe. I can't check the material without knocking it. And now they lifted the box and transported me somewhere.'_

 _'Makes sense. Carrying a fainted girl from Director's office would raise questions, if there were witness.'_ Kyoko said _. 'I will try to follow you by your Soul Gem location.'_

The box was not thick, maybe it was designed for transporting a sleeping person. It didn't need to trap a person inside. Because of that, the sound from outside was clear to me.

"I thought she will not fall asleep. I had a mind to just use stun-gun on her." The voice of Mr Otonashi. "Quick, I want her to become controller immediately. There is a lot of potential in this one."

I felt the box lifted and moved from the office. And then the sound of elevator opening and closing. They brought me to another floor.

 _'Homura? You are coming closer. I am standing near the elevator and I feel you coming down.'_ Kyoko said

'Alright. If you met the men carrying my coffin, follow them.'

'Okay. Here goes... huh? Homura, you are going past me to basement. I am now running to emergency stairs heading down.'

The elevator was still moving.

After a while, it was still moving down. And then finally we stopped and the men carried the box with me inside out of the elevator.

 _'Homura! Where are you! I am at the B3 floor, the lowest floor, but I feel you way farther down.!'_ Kyoko said with a bit of panic.

A secret basement below the hospital? _'The elevator. It must have special access. Use the elevator shaft to get here.'_

 _'Roger that. Hang on, Homura. I am ~~...'_

The telepathy was cut off. Our distance had became too far. The men carrying me had walked some distance from the elevator..

"Carrying new host. Boss want this quick." One of the men said to someone.

"Target Seventy-seven that is scheduled for today? That was quite fast. The pool for new host is on the right, make sure you enter the right room." Someone said. A sentry?

"I know, I have done this dozen times." The first man said.

"Just doing my job reminding everyone. They don't want any switch-ups, it is a mess to sort out. Come along then."

These codes were hard to understand. I felt the men walked a certain distance, and then entering a room. The lid of the box was opened. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.

"We do this the usual way, yeah? You, you, hold the legs and torso. I handle the head, and I will see if any has entered. Jim, look at the other ear, and tell me if one has succeed entering, so I can pull her head out." The man from earlier said.

"Understood." "Okay." "Yes" Several answers from different voices heard.

Took out my head from what? I felt a little uneasy now.

The men lifted me from the box, carried me a few steps, and then... my head was dunked on water.

I was surprised, but beside initial reaction of swallowing water to my lungs, I didn't react aggressively. Holding my breaths for a while was not difficult. My only concern was the reason these men dunked my head face first to some kind of pool. Did they want to drown me? If they want to kill me, why drowning? That's not the most efficient way.

I was debating with myself whether to break my restraint and subdue my captors when I felt something in my ear.

"Alright, successful entry. Up!" A voice said. But I was not paying attention. I opened my eyes in panic, feeling something drilled into my ear. My ear hurts.

"She is awake! Quick, hold her!" Hands grabbed my body, trying to immobilize me. I broke their hold, throwing them to the wall. I kicked a man. I punched something. But that was not important. Something had entered my ear, and I want to know what that was.

And then I saw it. At the corner of the room, created from steel, was a giant bowl, with diameter of two meters. The giant bowl was filled with brown liquid. Swimming inside it were many, many weird shaped slugs. One of them had entered my ears?

I retched waters from my lung. I needed to breath. Another man tried to tackle me down, but I jumped and kicked the back of his head. The last man held a gun and in the middle of releasing the safety. Ignoring the pain, already spreading all over my head, I sprinted to him and punched him in the face.

All men are down. Groaning, conscious, but unable to fight or held me. Maybe they had broken bones. I didn't care. My head hurts.

And then suddenly, the pain diminished. But my legs suddenly became weak, so I fell to the ground on my butt. I... I couldn't move. I tried to move my hand, tried to talk, but my body didn't listen.

The room was silent. Only the groaning of the men and my panted breaths were heard. I needed to get out of here, fast. But my legs refused to move. Did something broke on my body? Was that slugs poisonous? What was their purpose bringing me here?

{What happened here? Why this girl can defeat four grown men stronger than her?}

A voice, unfamiliar and strange, in my head. A telepathy? Not Kyoko, another magical girl?

{Magical girl?}

Not telepathy. A voice inside my head. What is...

And then the world turned black.

 **=chapterend=**

 **AN**

 **1\. Yes this story refers to 'To the Stars' , the best Madoka Magica fanfiction. I borrowed the settings and history from it.**

 **Basically this story is TtS AU in pre-MSY if the whole alien invasion happens much earlier and by different species and methods.**

 **2\. Red Ribbon in chapter 2, fixed the color.**

 **3\. Majuu = Demons = Wraiths. In case anyone wondering.**


	4. 04 The Corporeal

**04\. The Corporeal**

"What happened here?"

The sounds of fighting were heard outside, and armed guards rushed inside to prevent trouble. They found out a bizarre scenery, four muscled men laying down on the floor in various position, groaning in pain or whimpering. They were clutching various parts of their body, evidently the area injured.

And in the middle of the room, a girl with long black hair, dressed in Mitakihara Middle School uniform, was sitting still, head facing down, arms hanging down lifelessly.

"The girl... in the middle of ... entering phase... hold her down..." The leader of deliverymen said with difficulty.

The human controller guard, looking at the girl who was not moving, chuckled a bit, the grips on his handgun relaxing. "The girl is already powerless. Look, one of our pool-mate has started dominating her. Soon she will be one of us."

The other guards also relaxed, storing their weapons. One of them asked, "This girl kick your butt? I thought you guys are stronger than that." He laughed, mocking the men on the ground. His friends also laughed with him.

The deliverymen wanted to refute, but they didn't know what to say. They could only hang their head down.

The first guard didn't laugh. He was perplexed instead. The girl had a small body, it was not logical that she could defeat four men. And also, she was drugged, so how did she regain consciousness?

His doubt made him act. He approached the girl and lifted her face.

The girl had a classic beauty appearance, but her expression was frozen in a mixture of confusion and terror. Her eyes stayed open, unblinking. There was no reaction at all to his action.

All the normal sign of a host in the middle of Dominating Phase trance. But something was wrong... something was missing...

"She is not breathing!" He exclaimed.

All the other human controller were surprised hearing it. They also checked the girl's body.

"There is no pulse."

"How can this be? She is fine just a moment ago!"

"Did you guys kill her?"

"Nonsense! Do you see any wound?"

It was the first time in Yeerk history that a host candidate died because a Yeerk infest her.

=break=

Meanwhile, a moment before, the Yeerk known as Derane nine-four-eight was confused.

He was standing by inside the miniature Yeerk pool, as per his orders. Swimming around blind inside the pool together with his brethren, he was supposed to wait for a new host to be delivered to the pool. The one yeerk lucky enough to be close when a host head enter the pool would get a new host body. That would continue until every Yeerk in the pool got a host and the pool became empty.

This time, the lucky yeerk was him.

As soon as his sonar senses registered a host head enter the pool, he leaped there.

Jumping inside the earhole of his new body, he drilled through eardrum and the rest of ear canal, gaining access to the brain. And then he stretched - slowly spreading on the surface of the brain. It was slow and delicate work, but the biological instinct of his species, honed for million of years through evolution, guided him in the process.

And so he covered all of the brain, and began to connect, and control it.

There were three steps in Dominating Phase. One, the yeerk gain access to sensory input of the host's senses. Two, the yeerk gain control of motoric nerve system of the host. Three, the yeerk gained access to the host memory.

Even though it was still just step one, he was excited. Because it meant that he could see the world of colors that he usually didn't have in his natural form. He viewed the world outside through his host's eyes and... what he saw made him confused.

He saw human controllers on the ground in various disgraceful position. Viewing his new host body, he found out that this body was rather small compared to the human controllers

{What happened here? Why this girl can defeat four grown men stronger than her?} He said.

His new host could hear him, but that didn't matter. He was now accessing her surface thought and read it. Magical girl. Kyouko.

{Magical girl?} What in holy kandrona name was that? Some kind of human that can speak-thought like the Andalites?

This could be very important. If he could find out more about this variation of humans, he might get promoted into sub-visser. Maybe even a Visser.

He focused more into the dominating process. He needed to access this host more deeper memories. And then... he finally gained control of everything.

He pulled out the memories. The girl was named Akemi Homura. Fifteen years old. Third grade in Mitakihara Middle School. A magical girl in charge of residential area, cultural center and city center, along with Tomoe Mami and Sakura Kyouko. Her biggest secret was...

And suddenly everything went black.

Derane nine-four-eight then realized, it was because the visual senses had been turned off. He couldn't see anything from his host eyes.

Wait. Even the auditory senses and olfactory senses had been cut off. No, all five senses had disappeared, except the one that the yeerk had in his natural state.

And when he couldn't read the memories when he tried, it was at that moment he realized that, everything seemed to go black because the brain had turned off, if that made sense.

There was no other word to describe it. It was as if a computer was running and someone decided to pull off the electrical cable, shutting it down abruptly.

And that was weird, because even in the event of fatal injury, the brain still live for four minutes without oxygen supply. And he didn't sense any injuries before the host senses were cut off.

Speaking about oxygen supplies... the brain that he enveloped stopped receiving any. He examined more closely and found out that the blood - the red liquid that distributed nutrients and oxygen throughout human body, had stopped coming to the brain.

Derane was not an expert of human bodies, but he had attended obligatory course for controller candidate, and it covered a brief lecture about human biology. You need to know about the species that you tried to conquer and enslaved after all.

He knew that a heart should pump the blood. But he stopped hearing the usual background of heartbeat sound, a sound he was sure existed when he first infested this host.

The obvious conclusion was clear. His new host had died. Instantly.

He didn't know the cause of death, but he was sure this would be a black mark on his record. What if they decided that I was the cause of death? They would send me to the pool, never given another host.

He knew that there was nothing he could do, but the prospect of getting outside and life forever inside the pool was so frightening. He lingered inside the host skull, trying to feel the brain and found out why it suddenly stopped working.

=break=

Homura opened her eyes, and saw vast expanse of stars, planets, galaxies, a stretch of nothingness filled with colors and lights.

When she fully awaken, she realized that she was naked.

=chapterend=


	5. 05 The Ultimate

**This chapter is infodump about Animorphs. If you never read it, read away. If you had read it, you can skim this chapter.**

* * *

 **05\. The Ultimate**

 **Homura first person POV**

Alright. Let's calm down. I am floating in the void of space without any kind of fabric to cover my body. Don't panic.

Wait. This scene actually looked familiar. I had seen this before, experiencing similar situation. As weird as that sounds, that was true. This looked like my memory of the last meeting with Madoka. Was this a dream?

"Ahem." A voice came from somewhere. It was the nostalgic voice of my best friend. "I thought we can meet under the same condition as our previous meeting. But now I changed my mind. It was too embarrassing for both of us."

In the instant Madoka said that, my body was covered with my magical girl outfit.

And then The Goddess appeared.

My best friend Madoka had became a goddess, I was reminded again of that fact when I looked at her new form.

Befitting her new station, her looks was more mature and graceful. Her hair changed into long and flowing. The white dress she wore was filled with frills, and it had wide and long layered skirt at the bottom. Two white ribbon decorated the top of her head. A white choker also decorated her neck. A pair of small pink translucent wings grew from her back.

Her dress theme was white. It fitted her. She was beautiful.

"Oh Homura-chan, you flattered me." Madoka chuckled.

She read my mind. I got flustered and addressed her. "My Goddess."

Madoka waved her hand dismissively, "None of that formalities Homura-chan! It is rare that we can meet face to face like this, I would be angry if you act distant." Even with more mature form her voice was exactly the same as I remembered.

"Un." I replied submissively.

In front of my best friend, there was no need to put on a mask. It would be useless anyway, she already knew everything.

Madoka waved her hand and changed the background scenery. The sparkling colored lights changed into deep dark blue of space, with glittering stars and galaxies.

She waved her hand again, and a foldable chair amd desk, just like the one I used in school, appeared in the center of the void.

"Sit, Homura-chan." Madoka gestured to the chair.

"Uhh. Madoka, why the school chair?" I asked her. If we talk with each other, shouldn't we do it on a more appropriate setting? Like conference table? Or a sofa? And would I be sitting alone while she stand?

Madoka waved again and a whiteboard just like the one in my school appeared. Then again, Madoka used to attend the same school so she obviously did it on purpose. She said, "Well, because we will be having a lecture."

And then Madoka produced a fashionable glasses with a flourish, and wore it. She also held a teacher's baton, the same one used by Saotome-sensei.

I got it that she wanted to achieve teacher's look, but doing that while still wearing your goddess dress would create a dissonance. Or did she deliberately aim for the gap? Uhm, anyway, Madoka was still cute even with glasses.

"Ho-mu-ra!" Madoka pointed to the chair with the baton, pouting because I hadn't moved to the chair.

Sighing to myself, I stopped resisting and sit at the chair. If Madoka wanted to play teacher and student, I should follow along.

Madoka smiled, fixing her glasses. "Now we can begin. It's rare that I can give you all information you need to know, so we should use our time efficiently."

"Right. I have a question though." I spoke to her. "Why I am here? Did I... die?"

"Oh no, not like that Homura-chan! It is true that right now your heart stopped and you are not breathing, but you are still alive! Your Soul Gem is still healthy." Madoka said.

Well, that's reassuring. Even if heart stopped and breathing stopped, as long as Soul Gem was intact, I could recover. Still...

Madoka continued, "You are here because the connection between your physical body and your soul was cut off. In this state I can drag your consciousness here. The reason for soul-body disconnect is because of software-hardware identification error, a topic that I will cover last. Now, this error will not last long, so we really should get started!"

Madoka waved and the whiteboard in front of me now displayed a creature, alien and obviously not human, sitting on a throne. It was similar to an old human man, if only the ears and limbs did not betray its non-human origin.

More importantly, was that a whiteboard or a holo-projector?

"This individual name is Ellimist. He was originally a normal Ketran, original name Toomin. This appearance is the one he used recently in front of humans." Madoka started her lecture. She was not kidding about making their time efficient, as she fired away with a rapid pace telling me about many things. Who and what was alien race Ketran, what was their habitat, and what caused their downfall.

The Ketrans, foolishly broadcasted their simulation game towards the galaxies, and as a result another alien race mistook the game records as real events. This alien race wiped out majority of Ketrans from their home planet, a punitive act based on misunderstanding that the Ketrans meddled with other alien races development.

Toomin was one of the Ketrans who managed to escape the annihilation. He became the leader of the last surviving Ketrans, drifting in space to search for a new planet. Ellimist was originally a game name that Toomin used.

A tragedy struck, and Toomin became the last surviving member of his race. All the others were dead and absorbed by one very powerful creature, who already absorbed many other sentient beings from various races, increasing its power and intelligent. Toomin was also absorbed, controlled, and kept alive just to provide entertainment. Well, that was until Toomin managed to counter-absorb this creature, the way I understood it was Toomin managed to hack and took over this creature.

And in the process, Toomin was gone. Ellimist was born, a new creature that hosts multitudes of millions. An individual, but plural. He used the knowledge that he got from different races to built himself a cybernetic body. A cybernetic brain, to host the many mind he absorbed.

And then The Ellimist, once a normal creature with biological body, through a series of adventure and misadventure, ascended into a very powerful being. His existence transcended his mortal body, and his intelligence was unimaginable by me.

The existence of such a powerful being would be unbelievable for me, if not for two reasons. First, I had one sample of a being who already transcended her mortal body, and she was standing in front of me. Second, that being was omniscient, as far as I know, and she had no reason to lie to me.

I raised my hand just like a model student. "Between you and him, who is stronger? Or are you equal?"

Madoka smiled, and she answered while trying to be modest, but I could see that she was proud of something.

"It is hard to determine who is stronger, because we are different. I am a goddess, a concept, a law of nature. Ellimist is a living being. An absurdly powerful, body-less, and super-intelligent being, but still a being nonetheless."

Madoka waved and the whiteboard now display a summary of Ellimist power.

"While theoretically, I exist in higher dimension than him, the things I can do are very limited. I am everywhere and in all time, knowing everything, of all that was and all that will be, and of all that might be in different timelines. But aside from welcoming the magical girls in the end of their life and giving occasional vision to several girls, I can not interfere directly."

Madoka continued, the whiteboard showing several teenagers meeting Ellimist. "Ellimist however, can do many things that I can't do. He can stop time, teleporting several people to a place several light-years away, rewriting the past with time travel, and that are not the end of his abilities."

So that's what you become if you survive after entering a blackhole. Though, I doubt anyone else can survive entering the fabric of space and time that way.

Madoka scratch her cheek, looking embarrassed. "Well, yeah, I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to outsmart him."

"What did you do?" I asked, curious about something that Madoka could do against such a powerful being.

"I shield every magical girl from his view. Whatever you do, he can't see you. He can only see the effects of your action through the reaction of everybody else." Madoka grinned mischievously. "In his vision the earth will be filled with blindspots, and lots of incomprehensible events when something unseen cause a reaction in the world." She giggled. "I am sure Ellimist and Crayak had realized it by now, they must be very annoyed with earth."

"Crayak?" I questioned Madoka, trying to remember if this name was already mentioned before.

"Right, Crayak." Madoka's expression was now one of disgust. It was something rarely seen on her. She was usually very kind, forgiving, and always saw the best in people.

"Crayak is the opposite of Ellimist. Ellimist fashioned himself as a benevolent deity, and despite his inflated ego and pretentious attitude, he has good intention at heart." Madoka said.

I was quite surprised hearing that. Madoka never looked down on others, but just now she was clearly dissing Ellimist. Maybe having a very wide perspective had an effect in one attitude?

As if reading my mind, Madoka continued. "Ellimist dreamed of a thriving universe, full of sentient species and habitable planets, with their own culture, all under his guidance. He meddled in their affairs, saving a race from extinction, bringing one species from stone age, giving technology and so on. He is obsessed with creation. This is even before he was sucked into a blackhole." Madoka lectured.

"Crayak is the opposite. He revels in destruction. He enjoys suffering of others. He wants the universe filled with only the strongest species, those he selected, and he will eliminate the rest." Madoka waved, and the whiteboard display what Homura assumed was Crayak.

A big red eye, sitting on a very high throne. I couldn't determine whether it was a biological eye or some kind of robotic eye. It felt like a combination of both.

Speaking about red eye and evil being, I couldn't help but remember about Sauron's Eye in the land of Mordor. What's with the evil last boss and giant eye?

"Don't be distracted please." Madoka gently chided. "I know this form is ugly, but it's not his real body anymore. He had also transcended his mortal form, and existed between fabric of time and space."

What's with these people abandoning their physical bodies and becoming literal deity. Was that in fashion nowadays? Oh shoot Madoka was giving me pointed look. I guess I should stop thinking blasphemous thoughts.

"While Ellimist intervention sometimes failed, most of the times it was successful. He would create peace and doing good throughout the galaxy. That was until Crayak appeared. He challenged Ellimist in a game. Crayak would try to destroy lives, and Ellimist would prevent him. Until at one point, Ellimist came up ahead and Crayak chose direct confrontation."

"So, both of them actually had bodies before. They fought and fought, spreading collateral damage across the galaxy." Madoka said, waving her hand to change the display on the whiteboard.

I saw Ellimist, his bodies were massive crystalline spacecrafts joined together. I saw Crayak, a giant eyeball the size of a moon, hurling power of destruction throughout the space. The two beings fought, causing massive destruction wherever they went. Planets turned to dust, stars snuffed out, and billions of sentient alien races extinct in an instant.

Honestly, as a self-proclaimed guardian of galaxy, Ellimist caused more harm than good.

"And in one battle, Crayak managed to lure Ellimist to the vicinity of a blackhole." Madoka waved her hand, the whiteboard displaying the event.

"Even as powerful as he is, Ellimist can not overpower a blackhole."

I watched as parts of Ellimist was sucked into a blackhole. The other surviving parts were annihilated by Crayak. Still, the display changed into something else. Ellimist, now inside a singularity, alive and learning.

Ellimist now was a very powerful being, able to influence the fabric of space and time. But as one being managed to do, another could.

Soon, Crayak followed him. After his fun was being foiled again and again by unseen forces, he deducted the reason. The only one able to impede him was his eternal rival, Ellimist, so he threw himself to a blackhole and amazingly managed to achieve the same feat.

"Suicidal, I know." Madoka said, frowning at the display. "Still, that leave us with two entities able to destroy this galaxy by thought alone. Fortunately, neither wants that. So they continued playing their game, now with new rules. They would interfere only minimally, and play the game by proxy."

Suddenly something clicked in my head. "The Incubators. They said something about two parties having disagreement, and that they should take it somewhere else."

"You're right!" Madoka made a swish with her baton. "The two troublesome parties are Ellimist and Crayak. Earth has become one of the gameboard for their little game."

Just for this once, I wholeheartedly agree with Kyuubey. Knowing that your planet had became a gameboard for two almost omnipotent being had that effect on you.

"Actually they also felt awkward. When they found out that Incubator had intervened for several thousand of years on earth, the game was already underway. If they knew before, they would not touch earth." Madoka said.

"Why?" I asked. Was it considered unethical? Since when they care anyway?

Madoka answered, "Incubators is a powerful race. While Ellimist and Crayak are more powerful, The Incubators can dealt tremendous damage to them. If possible, they will want to avoid open wars. But Incubators hid themselves well, too well actually, so they did not find out until much later. The three parties are now at an impasse, noone wanted to initiate anything. A great advantage for us, especially since Ellimist and Crayak believe that the unseen things are Incubators' doing. Technically true, though."

"Anyway, that is for the prologue. Now we are entering the main topic." Madoka waved her hand again.

All that long time and only prologue?

Madoka ignored my silent protest and now pointing at the whiteboard, displaying an unfamiliar planet with dim red sun. The planet seemed aquatic, with lots of lakes and pools. "The game between Ellimist and Crayak involves an alien race called Yeerk."

The display zoomed in to one of the pool, where several yellowy slugs swam around. Eww, that's the disgusting slug that entered my ear!

"Yeerk, an alien species that evolves as parasite. They lived in a pool filled with Kandrona particles in their home planet. In its natural state it is blind and communicates with some type of echolocation."

"It can enter from ear canal to envelop another creature's brain, and by doing so, take over control of that creature's body." Madoka explained, pointing to the whiteboard. It was now displaying animation of a Yeerk entering a human's head through earhole, and enveloping the brain by stretching its body.

Disgusting. This was worse than B-grade horror movie. Especially when it happened personally to you. Curse that Oriko, what did she say about knowing your enemy? Maybe I should dunk her head to that brown pool and let her experience it herself.

"Yeerks love to infest other creatures because they lacked sensing organs. Especially seeing senses. They like to search for a species with good eyes. Once Yeerk take control, all the body movement is taken over. It can even read memories and subconscious routine, perfectly emulating the person it infested. Nobody will realize that the person has been taken over." Madoka said.

I see. Then my classmates odd behavior, and the organization of The Caring...

"Yes, they are a front. The truth is that it is a gathering for Controllers, that's the term for Yeerk who control another species. For the Earth invasion, they want to do it quietly and secretly. One of their method is to create organization to gather potential host."

Then why would you lead me to enter that dangerous organization? I admitted I was a little angry at Madoka, even though I knew that she must have her reason.

"Be patient, I will answer that later." Madoka smiled."So the game between Ellimist and Crayak is, Crayak would support the Yeerk and get them to conquer the galaxies, enslaving several races and spread their empire. Ellimist would oppose them. Earth is one of the Yeerk Empire's target."

Ah, even a blind slug now could build an empire. I had been behind the times.

"Now, the Yeerk must feed Kandrona particles every three days, and the only way to do that is by swimming in Yeerk Pool." The display now showed a large brown pool and some kind of red lamp.

"That is Portable Kandrona Ray, a miniature of the sun from their home planet, it can make a Yeerk Pool. Yeerks must leave their host every three days to swim around in the pool." Madoka explained.

Ignoring the technical detail about what exactly was Kandrona, "That is a big weakness." I said. "The... host..., can just escape while the Yeerk is out soaking."

The display changed by Madoka's handwave, now showing metal cage where many aliens or humans screamed or despaired.

"Ok, I got the point." I said. "Of course they will lock them in a cage. They would be stupid not to." I noticed another weird thing on the display, and asked. "Though maybe they are stupid, there are some people lazing around not in cage."

A group of people got a better treatment. They sat in a row, watching TV, reading books, chatting with each other, or lazing away. There was no hint of despair or sadness in them.

"Voluntary controllers." Madoka said. When I looked at her for more explanation, she sighed. "There are many things that can make some humans, or aliens, allow a Yeerk to infest their heads. Money, power, or deception. The Yeerks made up a convincing story about why they want to borrow bodies."

"Right." I said. "There's one big question though. How can an aquatic slug managed to find their way to Earth? I thought Crayak can't directly teleported them here?"

"Duh, of course not. They came here by spaceship." Madoka waved and the whiteboard showed several ships with different sizes and shape.

Madoka then explained the ship one by one. A Pool Ship was a mothership, containing a large Yeerk Pool, shaped like three legged round spider. A Blade Ship was the superfighter, personally owned by the General, shaped like the edge of a trident. A Bug Fighter was the common fighter spaceship, shaped disgustingly like a bug. These aliens really had the bug themed going on.

I raised my hand again, because we were still playing the teacher-student role play. "The obvious question I should ask next, is where in space did they got the technology to build those ships. Are they really genius, those slugs?"

Madoka shook her head. She waved her hand and the display now showed another alien creature. It was a blue centaur with additional eyes. Wait, was that a sword attached to the tail? The blade was curved, so it was more like a scythe.

"This is Andalite, a space-faring alien that first discover the Yeerk home planet. They are the one who give the Yeerk technology to travel between the stars." Madoka explained. "Their origin closely tied to Ellimist, and he was literally regarded as a god among Andalite."

"End-the-light?" I asked, unsure about the name.

Madoka waved and the word Andalite appeared on the whiteboard. Well, excuse me for not knowing alien language!

"The Andalite gave away almost all of their technology to the Yeerk, except one. The morphing ability." Madoka said, waving her hand again. The display now showed how Andalite could change their physical form.

"The pinnacle of Andalite technology. After touching another species, they can change into another species for two hours. But they must change back within the time limit, otherwise they will be trapped forever in that form." Madoka said, not hiding her admiration.

"We almost run out of time." Madoka suddenly said. "I must skip the Yeerk history and how they betray the Andalite. Just remember that Andalite and Yeerk is now at war."

I maintained that you wasted too much time with the prologue.

"Hush. The Yeerk had conquered several alien races and in the process of invading others. You just need to remember several. First, this is Hork-Bajir." Madoka pointed at the whiteboard with her baton. "A herbivore, they eat tree barks by peeling it with the blades that grew on their body."

A standing bipedal lizard with long neck and two arms, its limbs were armed with curved blade.

"They are pacifist and have rather low intelligent. Yeerk easily enslaved them and they are now used as soldiers, because, you know, the blades." Madoka said it with a sad expression.

I see. What a tragedy. These aliens were enslaved just because they grew some oversized nail.

"Next, Gedd. A blue slow monkey with webbed hand. The first species that Yeerk controlled, sharing the same home planet." Madoka increase her pace, showing a picture for a moment, and change it to the next one without waiting too long.

"Third one, Taxxon. Always hungry, will eat anything, especially meat. Quite dangerous." The whiteboard showed a giant centipede, with the front third of its body standing. "But its body is squishy."

"Fourth one, Chee." The display changed simultaneously with Madoka's voice, now showing a standing dog robot. "An alien race, sentient and intelligent, it is an android created by Pemalite race." Another picture showed up, showing a bipedal dog.

I said nothing. But my confusion must be clear, because Madoka explained more.

"Pemalite is an alien race that was already extinct, because of Crayak. Their essence was extracted to create modern dogs on earth." Madoka said, her tone grim. "The Chee is their android servants. They hid among human in Earth after their masters perished. They can use holograms to cover their body. They oppose the Yeerk invasion. They are incapable of violence, so they fight Yeerk by indirect means, such as espionage."

I got it. "So I should find them and ask for cooperation?"

"Yes, there are three of them in Mitakihara." Madoka twirled her baton. "That's it for now, the other races are irrelevant to your situation. You can find more information later. Homura-chan, I am happy that you agreed to fight the Yeerk." Madoka smiled beautifully.

It was not that I agreed to fight, but it was the obvious conclusion, considering what Madoka had told me. All the information was aimed to make me understand the Yeerk as enemy. Furthermore, I think there would be a lot of problem if the Yeerk succeed in enslaving humanity.

Suddenly, the chair I sat on was gone. The desk and the whiteboard also vanished. In front of me, appeared Madoka in her white dress. She looked older, and gone the glasses and the teacher's baton. Her eyes shone in gold color. She had serious expression on her face.

It was not the Madoka I knew. It was not the Madoka that appeared before, who role played as a teacher. This Madoka felt more... overbearing. More dignified.

"I am the Goddess of Magical Girls, the safety and welfare of all Magical Girls is our concern. We stem from Humanity, therefore Humanity's well being is also our concern. The enslavement of Human race will have negative impact to the Magical Girls. Demons will form in mass, because Humanity's despair will increase exponentially."

I remembered the strange occurrence of Demon miasma lately. They indeed seemed more frequent than before. Was that because the hosts' despair increase in quantity? I suppose you will always have sad thoughts if your body was taken over by space slug.

Alright, I will shut up. Stop glaring at me.

Madoka still had that fiery gaze upon me. "I care not about the game rules between Ellimist and Crayak. As an outside party I am not bound by their rules. But if their war must be done by proxy, then so be it, I will also send my proxy."

I stared at The Goddess, controlling my emotion. Since when did Madoka able to be this solemn?

"Akemi Homura. I choose you as agent of my will. Lead the other Magical Girls to fight Yeerk invasion. Do you accept?" Madoka said, her voice echoed in space.

I kneeled down, head hanging low, and answered. "Your will be done."

Suddenly I stood up, and in front of me was not The Goddess Madoka, but the Magical Girl Madoka with the pink frilly costume. She assumed the appearance of 15 years old girl, the same as mine. Madoka took my hands in hers, and smiled lovingly. "And now to answer your first question."

"A Magical Girl's soul is materialized, trapped in Soul Gem. The Soul Gem is our true self, and our physical body is just a meat puppet, giving an appearance of living being." Madoka walked among the sea of stars, dragging me along.

"The connection between Soul Gem and the body is magical in nature. But there is also a matter of compatibility. You can't use a body that is not yours. Different DNA. And metaphysically, you will reject that body as not yours. There are exceptions, and possession of other's body can be done, but not without price." Madoka explained while we walk side by side.

"The connection mainly resided in the brain. It was the seat of the soul, the processing hardware that received the transmission from the soul. Of course, even without the brain you can still move. A brain injury would not kill a Magical Girl. As long as the Soul Gem survive, the brain can be regenerated later." Madoka explained it in simple terms, but she didn't display any emotion even when discussing such morbid topic.

"Now the Yeerk infestation is something else. It envelop the brain and take it over. By doing so, two things happened to you. First, your brain changed shape. A layer of organic materials with different DNA enveloped it from outside. This created an error in the Soul Gem IFF system." Madoka said.

IFF? I felt a little weird comparing Soul Gem and radar system.

"Or you can think of it as a radio. If the radio changed incoming frequency, it will stop receiving earlier transmission. Anyway, the second thing is the body changed owner. This is metaphysical, but at that moment your body stopped being 'you'. And so the Soul Gem cut the connection, detecting no compatible body around it." Madoka continued. She raised a middle finger to an empty space in front of her. "And that is how a Magical Girl have natural immunity against Yeerk! Eat that you slimy eyeball!"

I was taken aback once again. This was the real Madoka, right? She didn't exhibit such bold behavior during her life as human...

"I only acted like this in front of you, Homura-chan." Madoka suddenly said. "A Goddess need to blow off steam once in a while, and I don't need mask in front of you." She grinned.

I was also infected by her smile and laughed along with her.

Finally Madoka said her goodbye. "This is the end, Homura-chan. Sooner or later the connection between the Soul Gem and the body will be restored. Soul Gem will realize its error and possessed the body again. Especially if you know about Yeerk. And now you know."

So that's it. Madoka tried to prolong our meeting by informing this topic last.

"When you regain consciousness, The Yeerk will be recognized as foreign thing invading your body. If you let automated magic defense run its course, it will be destroyed. Or, after stopping the automated defense, you can try taking over the Yeerk, gathering information. You can also just imprison it inside your head, blind and helpless."

I got surprised again. "Me, taking over a Yeerk? How is that possible?"

Madoka giggled. "Magic make many things possible. Just will the magic to reverse the process between you and the Yeerk."

I stared at the being in front of me, unable to say anything. Did the Goddess, the good and kind and naive Madoka, the selfless girl who sacrifice herself, just told me to counter-enslave an alien?

"I leave the decision to you. Feel free to choose any method you prefer. Good luck, Homura-chan. Say hi to Tatsuya for me."

And so the vision ended.

I woke up, and the first thing arose in my mind was: _'How fortunate, I saw guns.'_


End file.
